Yesterday Wade and I went to Arroyo Grande for a quick bite at the Old Village Grill. We first went there last month, on our way to Lake Lopez. This time, we walked over to the swinging bridge and met a rooster.
Arroyo Grande
The Arroyo Grande Valley was inhabited by the Obispeno Chumash tribe when the Spanish explorers came. Then the land claims began and the area became two major ranchos. The township of Arroyo Grande was established in 1863 and the town founded in 1897. In 1911, it was incorporated as a city. Even then, in the following decade, a couple of elections were held on the question of dis-incorporating Arroyo Grande.
(I was confused by this so I did a quick search – without oversimplifying this – establishing refers to a stable presence; founding is more official and incorporation is a legal process with elections and charters that gives the town a legal governmental entity status.)
Just south of the popular and overcrowded Pismo Beach, an afternoon at AG is a nice contrast, especially on a Sunday. More low key and eclectic.
Arroyo Grande Swinging Bridge
The Arroyo Grande Swinging Bridge was built in 1875 by Newton Short and is one of its kind in California. This 171-foot bridge connected the two parts of his land separated by the Arroyo Grande Creek. Over the years it was reinforced and restored a few times. In 1911, the foot bridge was given to the newly-incorporated town, which added the sides. After a falling tree destroyed it in 1995, the bridge was removed and re-built with cables, which replaced the original rope system.
In August this year, the Swinging Bridge Rehabilitation Project was completed. According to bidding postings, the project’s estimated cost was $542,000. (I vaguely remember seeing a sign near the bridge that it cost $1 million. May check the next time we’re there.) Its goal was to meet current safety standards. By reinforcing the walking plank and stabilizing the foundation, the previous five-person max weight limit was also lifted.
Download this map, for personal use.
After we ate, we crossed Branch Street from Old Village Grill, walking down Bridge Street past Lightning Joe’s Guitar Heaven (closed on Sundays). Klondike Pizza is just on the other side. Turning left after the guitar shop took us onto Olohan Alley, where Saturday Farmers Markets takes place each week from noon to 2:30 PM.
Walking down Olohan Alley, with music playing and the sun shining, it still felt like summer. There is plenty of parking on this street, and also a parking lot further down by the Centennial Park on Short Street. You can easily see the park with its gazebo and the swinging bridge from a distance.
We stood by the side of the bridge and watched as people politely waited for their turn to cross, some taking selfies. The foot bridge is narrow and can accommodate two people walking together very closely. I briefly stepped onto it, before realizing others were already waiting on the other side. Unlike the suspension bridges in Vancouver or the swinging bridge in Hanapepe, Kaua’i, this one did not really move much.
History Tour in Arroyo Grande
Just beyond the bridge is a residential neighbourhood and at the Heritage Square Park is a historic schoolhouse. The one-room Santa Manuela School was built in 1901 and moved to its current location in 1999. Now a museum, it’s been restored so that visitors can explore its original state. The Santa Manuela School was built on Joseph Jatt’s property, where Lake Lopez is now. Used until 1957, the school house had to be moved before dam construction began for Lake Lopez Reservoir.
The Santa Manuela School is adjacent to the Barn Museum and Heritage House Museum. Also nearby is the Ruby’s House. It is also known as The Patricia Loomis History Library and Research Centre. There are other historic buildings and local museums you can visit here in Arroyo Grande.
Meeting the Rooster
Wade was watching a youtube broadcast last night. He wanted to show me a splenic response. Upon hearing a loud click-clack sound, the guy runs offscreen and comes back to share that his roosters found the rat trap. I wonder if this is what happened to the rooster we saw at the suspension bridge.
There’s a flock of wild roosters and hens that calls downtown Arroyo Grande home. The AG Chickens are a bit of a mystery. Mostly male, their population does not seem to have diminished. Are people still dropping their chicken off? Back in 2018, when numbers climbed to 55, about half were relocated to downtown Nipomo, on an offer by Old Towne Nipomo Association. I couldn’t easily find what happened to this new flock. A rooster lives on average between two and five years so some could still be around.
One lone rooster walked by, pecking for worms in the grass. He was a neat character, a cool customer. Looked like he was wearing sunglasses. Some of his feathers on top of his head were missing. Like kinda plucked off. Maybe some injury. Or perhaps he too found a rat trap.
Having lived in Hawai’i, seeing wild roosters and chickens sauntering around is not a new experience. It did make me miss island living and the warm ocean. For rooster humour, check out the Red Rooster Team.
Arroyo Grande’s Other Residents
Arroyo Grande is apparently home to celebrities such as Lou Ferrigno and Zac Efron (This information is on many websites, without source references so just putting it out there.)
It is also the home of several ghosts. On Visit Arroyo Grande website, #4 of 8 Surprising Facts was “Arroyo Grande is known to be haunted, particularly the building home to the ever popular Klondike Pizza Parlour.”
Klondike Pizza Building
Side note. Interestingly, according to Ellen Meny for K5 news, the Klondike Restaurant & Bar in St Helens, Oregon, is also the most haunted building in this very haunted town. The Riverfront District building was a boarding house in the early 1900s, then a restaurant and saloon. Klondike Restaurant & Bar closed in 2018 and the 8,600-square-foot building which was once the historic St Helens Hotel went on the market. Located at 71 Cowlitz Street, after extensive restoration work, the restaurant was re-opened in June 2022 as Klondike Tavern. The new management is also currently financing the re-opening of the hotel rooms upstairs. From the Klondike Tavern’s Instagram account, it looks like it’s a happening place.
Arroyo Grande’s Klondike Pizza was opened by the Dennis Family in 1988, when they moved from Alaska. Co-owner Pamela Frost Dennis is the author of Murder Blog Mysteries. There’s not much about hauntings in this basement spot or the building, aside from a reference to a friendly ghost.
Pitkin-Conrow House
According to SLO architectural historian James Papp, the Pitkin-Conrow House (aka “The Victorian”) is also haunted. Built in 1890, it was likely a wedding gift for Julia Louis Goodwin and Charles Pitkin who wed the year before. The Conrows moved into the house in 1905, after Charles died early 1892.
The Victorian was once a bed and breakfast called Rose Victorian Inn and was renamed Crystal Rose Inn after its purchase in 1994. James Papp wrote that guests reported seeing a little girl “inhabiting the tower room, trying to open the door to it as if it was locked, playing throughout and on top of the vertiginous house, ringing a disconnected doorbell, trying to communicate over the speaker system, getting in bed with guests – and so on.”
Investigators Richard and Debbie Senate identified this little girl as Alice. A young girl with pigtails in a long dress, she’s also been seen playing on the gabled roof with another ghost, a young boy. Alice’s said to love cats and there are reportedly several cats in the third-floor tower room.
Restoration of the Victorian
Located at 789 Valley Road, this Victorian house is now an events space for weddings. Looking at their website, full of beautiful and bright photos, it’s interesting to read about its extra guests.
The 3000-square-foot house was completely restored and extensively renovated, when Melanie and John Hodges purchased it at a “discounted price” in 2000. No longer the rose colour the house had been for a couple of decades, it is currently a beautiful light grey-blue. They also worked on the property’s other buildings including a bunkhouse and a barn, part of which they converted into an office. An Eureka company made redwood columns to replace those of the water-damaged gazebo and to match the house’s details. And then there was an earthquake retrofit.
Original elements the couple preserved include the parlour fireplace, fir floors, ceiling medallions, and stained glass attic windows for which they had to get specially-cut glass to replace the damaged ones. This is a large estate of 1.5 acres with parking and reception-only capacity for 300.
Given the age of the town, it’s not surprising that there are ghost stories. According to Mapsquatch.com, California, with 1,070 reported haunted places, ranks first in the country. And second in UFO sightings, with nearly 15,000 reports.